Learning and local competitiveness: The case of Turin

This contribution aims to illustrate the most recent initiatives of cluster strategy analysis and implementation to revitalise the Turin metropolitan region. In the paper, theoretical and methodological, analytical and political assumptions interweave inextricably. For these reasons, it is divided into a number of distinct but sequential parts. First of all, the problem of regional competitive advantage and the underlying logic of interpretation are established as the expression of the structural dynamics that involve the contemporary economy. The quantitative and qualitative methodologies that were used to outline the existence of clustered business systems in the Turin region are then examined. More particularly, the Turin manufacturing system has been broken down into eight clusters of three different types: (a) strategic, (b) innovative, (c) traditional. Starting from the clusters identified, I then try to grasp the logic of interpretation of the Turin system and, as a consequence, the strategies of political intervention. Finally, this contribution examines the problems of implementing an industrial policy strategy, which is centred on the creation of 'Cluster Observatories', the reorganisation of the local economic and urban planning offices, and the establishment of a special agency for industrial policy.